A Week in My Life: Working on Two Projects and More

Want to know what my week looks like as a self-employed indie author? I filmed a week-long vlog where I show everything I did in a week. Last week, I was working on two projects: editing the fifth draft of Project Prehistory and revising the third draft of a literary fiction short story that I plan to submit to literary magazines soon. I also entered a first page writing contest where I will get feedback on the first page of Project Prehistory, read a bunch of books (although I only finished one of them), and baked a delicious blueberry cheesecake. Check out the vlog below for more!

Say Hello to My New Book Nook

 

Eternal Bookstore Book Nook

I recently got the Eternal Bookstore DIY Book Nook as a gift and spent a few days building it. I love this miniature bookstore with all its little details, like the sleeping dog, the posters, and the folding books you can flip through.

I'm a little sad that I had to glue the books in place, because now I can't reorganize the bookstore. But at least I don't have to worry about the books flying every which way when I move the book nook around. It's now on my favorite shelf right next to my Jane Austen collection.

Book Review: Legendary by Stephanie Garber

Legendary by Stephanie Garber

Book title: Legendary
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Published: May 29, 2018
451 pages
My rating: 4/5

"Your future can be whatever you wish. We all have the power to choose our own destiny."

Donatella Dragna has saved her sister Scarlett from an arranged marriage and escaped her father. But now she must pay her debt to a mysterious criminal and find out Legend’s true name. Her only chance of uncovering the secret is to join Caraval again and win the game – or else she might lose everything, including her life.

Legendary is the second book in Stephanie Garber’s young adult fantasy trilogy Caraval. I enjoyed Caraval, but I must admit it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. The same can be said about Legendary. My feelings are conflicted: on the one hand, Legendary was better than Caraval, but simultaneously and paradoxically I also found it more boring. I liked the plot and the expanded worldbuilding, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care about what was happening. I think that was because I didn’t connect with Tella even to the little extent that I did with Scarlett.

February Wrap-Up and March Goals

February Reads

February Wrap-Up

• Finished: 4
• Started but not finished: 4
• Total pages read: 2,012
• Average rating: 3.75

I finished four books in February, and two of them were novels. The first was Stephanie Garber’s Caraval (4/5 stars). It was an enjoyable young adult fantasy, but I admit I had expected a lot more from it. It didn’t quite reach my expectations, as you can see from the four-star rating. Click the link to read a longer review.

Desk Makeover! Setting Up a New, Functional Writing Space

If you've watched my writing vlogs, you may have noticed that I rarely work on my desk. I mostly write in the living room, and the main reason is that my office space is not ergonomic or inspiring place at all. But recently, I did a little desk makeover and upgraded my office to hopefully be a more productive and functional writing space. Check the video below to find out what I did and how I transformed the place.

Starting Draft Five of Project Prehistory

This week, I finally started the editing/revising/writing process for draft five of Project Prehistory, my prehistoric coming-of-age story. I spent January reading through draft four and marking all the sentences and words I want to change. At this point, it's mostly line edit stuff, but I do want to make a few minor additions (and hopefully also delete some things so that the word count doesn't go up). My goal is to edit two chapters a week, and at least this week I'm making great headway. You can find more about how I edited Chapter 1 in the writing vlog below. 

Book Review: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Book title: Caraval
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: Young Adult fantasy
Published: September 29, 2016
407 pages
My rating: 4/5

“Remember it’s all a game. What happens beyond this gate may frighten or excite you, but don’t let any of it trick you.”

Scarlett Dragna’s life-long dream has been to see Caraval, a performance where the audience participates in the show and competes for a prize. A few weeks before her arranged marriage, she finally gets an invitation to Caraval for herself, her sister Tella, and her fiancé. With the help of a mysterious sailor Julian, Scarlett and Tella escape their cruel and abusive father and journey to a far-away island, but as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s organizer, Legend. Now Scarlett must find Tella before the game ends, or she risks losing her forever.

Caraval is the first book in Stephanie Garber’s young adult fantasy trilogy of the same name. I have heard a lot of people rave about this series as well as the Once Upon a Broken Heart series, so I was intrigued to read both trilogies, starting with Caraval.